It seems to be raining money at quite a few corner offices of India Inc, with the number of CEOs with Rs 10 crore-plus salary package increasing significantly in FY23.
A total of 201 CEOs in 1,291 companies, which have revealed the figures so far, have got salaries of over Rs 10 crore. The corresponding number for 2,703 companies was 233 in FY22.
The chief executives of some of the larger Indian companies were however not as lucky, with their salaries going down significantly. For example, JSW Group chairman Sajjan Jindal got a total salary of Rs 51.36 crore in FY23 compared to FY22’s Rs 134.8 crore. HCL Tech CEO C Vijayakumar’s salary dropped as much as 80%. The salaries of Anand Mahindra and A M Naik dropped 80% (in M&M and Tech Mahindra combined) and 56% (L&T and LTI Mindtree together), respectively.
While over half the companies are still to publish their annual reports, clearly the overall number of CEOs with Rs 10-crore-plus salaries is set to hit a new record. The definition of CEO includes CMDs, MDs, Joint MDs, EDs, wholetime directors and others.
In FY23, as many as 1,320 CEOs took home more than Rs 1 crore as salary and perks. In comparison, there were 2,020 crorepati CEOs across 2,703 companies in the previous year.
Sectors such as chemicals with 117 and pharmaceuticals with 95 crorepati CEOs topped the charts of 1,291 companies. The IT sector had 78 CEOs in the list followed by auto ancillaries (76 CEOs), while other notable sectors included textiles (56 CEOs), steel sector (46), finance (45) and FMCG (44), according to data sourced from Capitaline.
The increase in the number of crorepati CEOs comes at a time when some of the major corporates recorded a fall in net profits. For instance, JSW Steel’s profit is down by 71% in fiscal 2023, Tata Steel (51%), and Hindalco Industries (41%). Net profits of companies such as Divi’s Laboratories (39%) and Tech Mahindra (25%) were also down.
In FY23, two-wheeler manufacturer Hero MotoCorp’s executive chairman Pawan Munjal – who was ranked at 10th position in FY22 – with a salary of Rs 99.55 crore topped the charts, an 18% rise from Rs 84.35 crore in FY22.
IT major Wipro’s MD & CEO Thierry Delaporte came in second with a salary of Rs 82.41 crore, a 3.3% rise from year-ago period, followed by Poonawalla Fincorp MD Abhay Bhutada at Rs 78.07 crore. (Bhutada was appointed as MD from June 1, 2021 to September 16, 2021, and later reappointed as MD from February 12, 2022.)
The others in the list included generic drugs maker Divi’s Laboratories CMD Murali K Divi at number four, with a remuneration of Rs 70.49 crore in FY23, which was down by 36.2% from Rs 110.41 crore he earned in FY22.
While none of the listed companies’ CEOs salary crossed Rs 100 crore in FY23, Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran’s remuneration stood at ₹113 crore. Reliance Industries’ CMD Mukesh Ambani and Kotak Mahindra Bank MD & CEO Uday Kotak drew “nil” salaries in FY23, according to the companies’ annual reports.